Things Fall Apart

5 . SAY IT

May 25th, 2002
Essex Middle School

"Now I just wanna know
Don't you sugarcoat
I'll say it all if you want
Now could you tell me like it is?"

Her father always said a boy would be the death of both of them.

Since the day Sean found out he was having a little girl, he'd been unprepared for the day he would have to put her in another mans care. He couldn't imagine the little brown girl in front of him, with the sparkling and wondrous eyes, would ever belong to anybody but him.

As far as he was concerned, she was the only thing he'd done right in life. When he became a man, and went into the world to find a way to provide for himself, he chose the wrong lifestyle . He'd chosen the wrong woman. He'd done wrong by his mother, many times. But Naomi changed his life from the moment she came into it. Any decision he made for her better, he would never regret, even if it meant it ended someone else's world. Even his own.

When they moved to Virginia, his life's goal was to stay around long enough to raise her to be as smart, disciplined and strong as she was destined to be. As she got older, his sole focus was getting her through school and off to whatever college she wanted on a full scholarship. Anything that interrupted that, and got in the path of his mission, would be removed. Quickly.

His worst fear was that she'd lose in herself in a relationship, the same way her mother had lost herself in him. She was three months shy of her 13th birthday, and Sean was still confident he had nothing to worry about.

The worry he had the day Chris walked her home from school years ago, when he saw the look in his eyes, was fleeting. It left as fast as it came. She promised him they were nothing more than friends, and he knew he didn't raise no liar. That wasn't the kind of relationship they had.

"I'll be back at 6:30, aight?"

Sean's words replayed in her head as Naomi glanced down at the small pink rubber watch around her wrist, and then back up at the timer on the wall of the gym.

5:52 PM

The seconds on the clock were winding down, and the entire gymnasium was on its feet. This was the second year in a row that Essex Middle School was one game away from going into the finals, and battling Easton Middle for the championship. If they lost, their season ended tonight, but if they won, they had one final game on the line next week to win it all.

Usually, Naomi didn't attend school sporting events. She barely liked going to gym class, so spending two hours in a poorly ventilated gym with a hundred other people watching sweaty teenage boys run back and forth, wasn't her idea of fun. But part of her job as a girlfriend was attending all of Chris' basketball and football games. He said he liked looking into the stands and seeing her there, cheering him on, even if she had no clue what she was cheering for. She just knew every time he had the ball, she'd hoot and holler with everyone else. Honestly, she would support anything that kept him out of trouble, out of fist fights , and far away from Bishop.

Skye, Raven and Kenya usually rotated who would go with her—sometimes they'd all show up just to avoid going straight home.

"You think your dad will take us out to eat?" Kenya leaned over, with a uninterested look on her face that made Naomi chuckle. She was the unlucky friend tonight sitting through this game with her. "I'm hungry girl."

"Me too. Where you wanna go?"

"I don't-"

Before she could finish her thought, the building erupted in applause, shaking the rickety old bleachers underneath them. Their heads immediately whipped around to check the score— 52 to 54, no time left on the clock. The entire Essex basketball team was in the middle of the court hugging and celebrating, so she threw her hands up and cheered with the rest of the gym.